Acanihodactylus. 



69 



Measuremt'uts (in millimetres): 



Prom end of suout to vent 



,, ,, ,, fore limli 



Length of head . 

 Width of head . 

 Depth of head . 

 Fore limb .... 

 Hind limb 



Foot 



Tail 



1. 0, Mettamer, Tunisia. 2. 9 

 Kreider, Oran. 4. J . Mecheria, Orau 



Duirat, 'I'unisia. 3. ^, El 



Var. LATASTII, Bouleuger. 



Lataste has jjroposed to sei^arate the examples from Southern 

 Tunisia and the Algerian Sahara as a var. deserti* from the Egyptians, 

 his var. s((i:liji)i/i, with the following definition: — 



Taille graude et forme I'lanei'e. Ecaiiles dorsales peu rt'gulieres et 

 vaguement carences. Coloration assez intense et plus ou moins pom- 

 mel t'e .......... var. ftavi(jiiyr. 



Taille petite et forme grcle. Ecaiiles dorsales rrgulicremeut rhom- 

 boi'dales et uettement careut'es. Coloration plus ou moius eifact'e. 



var. deserti. 



This definition leaves out of consideration too many exceptions to 

 be of much use. Thus the following table shows the lizards from 

 Biskra to be as large as those from Egypt ; the keels on the scales are 

 more often absent or indistinct than decidedly marked. t and some of 

 the specimens from the Plateaux of Algeria, + which were included 

 under the var. deserti, are as vividly coloured and marked in precisely 

 the same fashion as the Egyptians. It is, in fact, almost impossible 

 to distinguish some of the Tunisian and Algerian specimens from the 

 typical form, but they are linked by close gradation with the better- 

 defined de.sert lizards, extreme specimens of which, in thf shape of the 



* This name cannot be used in this sense, as Milne-Edwards's Lacerta deserti 

 is not Lepechin's, and is, besides, based on specimens from Olivier's collection 

 from the " Empire Ottoman," probably Syria. 



t Lataste had probably in mind the specimens now vefi;ried by me to the var. 

 macidatus. 



t Wed Dermel, Wed Sedeur; also the type of Zootoea deserti, Gthv., from 

 Ngoussa, south of the Mzab. 



